Bridge replacement program benefits Kilcoy area

The Kilcoy area will benefit from a share in a $350 million State Government program to replace more than 100 obsolete road bridges across regional Queensland over the next five years.

Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas today announced that two bridges on state-controlled roads in the shire had made the list of the first 17 bridges to be replaced under the Regional Bridge Renewal Program (RBRP).

They are: * Jiggera Creek Bridge, Kilcoy-Murgon Road, 50km northwest of Kilcoy; * New Country Bridge, Esk-Kilcoy Road, 10km southwest of Kilcoy.

Mr Lucas said Jiggera Creek Bridge was a narrow, 5.5 metre-wide timber bridge built in 1939. "It is in a sharp dip in the road through the Jimna state forest and has no side rails. This section of the Kilcoy-Murgon Road carries both logging trucks and tourist traffic through the forest," he said. "The bridge has had to withstand heavy logging trucks and its location in an often wet area and its isolation makes it expensive and difficult to repair."

Mr Lucas said New Country Bridge, built in 1942, was a narrow, 5.5 metre-wide, 37 metre-long timber bridge and also had no side rails.

"The bridge is on a road which services a rapidly developing farming and rural acreage community beside the Somerset Dam. This is part of a lakeside tourist route," he said. "The bridge's girders and decking soon will need replacing and timbers are hard to get and costly to maintain. In addition, the bridge is susceptible to destruction by fire in dry conditions."

Mr Lucas said planning and design for the new bridges would be completed over the next two years, with construction expected to start some time after that.

He said under the Regional Bridge Renewal Program, 459 timber bridges and 21 older concrete and steel structures on the state road network would be replaced over the next 15 years.

"This is a very significant announcement for the future of roads and transport in Queensland," Mr Lucas said.

"The funding announced today includes $170 million on top of existing allocations."

Mr Lucas said the bridges were no longer economically or environmentally viable and the RBRP would bring them up to modern design standards. "Some of the bridges we will replace were designed 50 or 60 years ago, and were built for the road conditions of the time, but the task they are required to perform has changed dramatically," he said.

"These bridges - primarily in regional and rural Queensland - help connect our communities.

"The new bridges will have higher mass limits and will carry heavier and more efficient freight vehicles on our roads.

"With Queensland's freight task expected to double over the next 10 to 15 years, it's vital that we undertake works like this to provide the best road network we can.

"The Regional Bridge Renewal Program will boost regional employment, not only through the works to be undertaken but through delivering better road freight efficiency," Mr Lucas said.

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